


Seeing Red

by scribblw



Category: jacksepticeye, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: (the holy trifecta), Angst, Anti - Freeform, Bisexual Character(s), Blood, Danti - Freeform, Dark, Darkiplier - Freeform, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hurt Jack, Injury, M/M, Markiplier - Freeform, Pining, Pre-Slash, Septiplier - Freeform, Septiplier is the only real relationship don't worry, Smut, Violence, abuse mention, don't worry I'm sure that everything will be fine, jacksepticeye - Freeform, making some poor boys suffer, not sure if the warning applies but would rather be safe than sorry, the tags will be updated later probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-11-15
Packaged: 2019-05-13 01:25:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14739476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scribblw/pseuds/scribblw
Summary: Anti was just a character. He was a creative outlet to spice up Jack's videos, and he was completely fictional. He couldn't be real.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This has really taken on a life of its own. XD That's foreshadowing.
> 
> Please leave me a comment!!

Anti was just a character. He was a creative outlet to spice up Jack's videos, and he was completely fictional. He couldn't be real.

Which was why Jack actually found it amusing the first time he thought he saw a green flash in the reflection of his eyes in the mirror. He figured that it was a trick of the light, and he chuckled at himself for thinking of his made-up alter ego when he caught it out of the corner of his eye. He'd just gotten up after a long night of recording, and he'd spent some of the day before brainstorming on ways to bring Anti back into some of his videos. It was just some weird mix of tiredness and the creative juices that he'd had flowing.

Thinking about and portraying Anti always got Sean into a specific state of mind. Sean loved to act, and he loved thinking about the different characters he'd come up with for his channel, but Anti was special in that he'd become an integral part of the community. He was literally the opposite of Jack. There was no yin without yang. But even so, it wasn't like Anti was real. Jack needed to get out of his head sometimes.

He finished up in the bathroom, trying to internally reset from his youtube mindset, and bounced into the kitchen where Signe was frying eggs.

"Wiisher," he said, grinning at her over his own version of a good morning.

He walked up to put a tiny peck on her cheek and then started to clean up a few dishes for her while she made breakfast.

"Morning. I almost thought you'd still be in bed when I left."

Sean looked a bit more sheepish after that, feeling slightly guilty even though he knew that she didn't mind him sleeping in. He was usually up before eight even after a long night, but now it was already past nine.

"Yeah, I was streamin' with Mark last night and we wanted to get a win before we ended it."

"It's okay; I'm just glad I got to see you this morning. Maybe you can go back to bed after I leave."

Signe dished Sean and herself some eggs and they went into the dining room to sit down like proper human beings. Usually when Wiish was out, Sean would just eat in his recording room or in the kitchen because he'd be too busy to sit down. It was important to him that they have breakfast together, though, when they could.

"I have some editing to do first but I'm sure I'll nap later."

"I'm sure you will."

"Hey!"

He couldn't really argue though; they both knew that he tended not to get enough sleep. He was a busy dude!

For some reason he thought about the imagined green flash that he'd seen in the mirror, and took a second to stare at his eggs. He was used to being tired, but he didn't usually see things.

Thankfully, he snapped out of it when Signe had finished and stood up, and Sean shoveled down the rest of his food before thanking her for breakfast and giving her a quick kiss goodbye. Then he added their dishes to the dishwasher and headed into his recording room.

There was a second before he got onto the computer that an image of Anti -different from what he'd thought he'd seen that morning and not part of a video he'd done before- popped into his mind. He filed it away as an idea for later and got to work on editing a video.

It was going a bit slowly since Sean was intermittently checking social media and replying to different comments on the footage of his and Mark's Fortnite stream, but Jack eventually finished with the new video. He wasn't uploading it yet and he needed to start filming the video for later that day, but his mind was in a slightly different place.

He decided to scroll through fanart on tumblr in order to gain some inspiration, and he ended up going through the tag for Anti. It'd probably just been to long since he put the little devil into a video. The fans were getting more and more demanding of even a glimpse of the character, but Jack was suddenly feeling a block. He didn't know what it was, but he was suddenly thinking of Anti in a different way. As if Jack would fall short of portraying him somehow. As if Anti was a separate entity from him.

It made sense in a way. Jack's fanbase were the ones who came up with Anti in the first place. Maybe he was feeling like he couldn't live up to their expectations. But he'd never thought that way before. It was really getting into his head. Like Anti was suddenly unfamiliar.

Jack decided to take a shower and then get started on filming. He sang to himself, loudly, feeling comfortable under the spray of water and goofing off to entertain himself. That was the whole point of what he did for a living, to have fun. And it was fun; he enjoyed it immensely. Even though the work was sometimes straining, he never forgot how lucky he was. He just needed to get out of a rut.

When he sat down again to film, Jack decided to play a funny little game that had been on his list for a while. It was light. It was easy. He laughed nearly the entire time he was playing, and by the end he felt much better about everything.

He uploaded the video he'd edited earlier and went to the kitchen for some lunch. It was a bit lonely sometimes with Wiishu out of the house, but Jack was pretty good at coping with the quiet. He put on some music on his phone to fill up the empty space and munched on leftovers at the breakfast bar. Signe would be back soon anyways and if he finished editing in time, they could have dinner together as well. It kind of felt like they hadn't been spending much time together with how busy they'd both been, but that would be easy to make up for.

Sean finished editing and actually took a nap before Signe got home. He didn't even notice that she was a few hours late.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Jack set up his computer to film, he noticed his eye feeling watery and brought his hand up to rub at it, thinking it was just irritated. But he happened to glance down when he'd returned the hand to his computer mouse and saw a small line of red. Was that blood? It was, but Sean didn't have any idea where it could have come from. He wondered if he had a nose bleed and touched his nose to check, but this time his fingers came away clean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. :3  
> This story might be moved up in rating to the big E at a later date, just some forewarning. Or is it a promise? ;)  
> Thanks for reading.

The next morning, Sean woke up at the same time as his girlfriend, and they had a lazy morning in bed together. He decided to be gentlemanly and pay her back for the previous morning's breakfast with some pancakes and bacon, which was delicious.

They decided to watch some cartoons on the couch together, and Sean really enjoyed being cuddled up with her, as always. She thankfully didn't have to leave as early as usual, so they also caught up on an anime together, and Signe helped him write up an idea for a pre-video sketch. She promised to help him film it later. Then she got ready to leave.

When Sean was alone in the house again, he took his morning shower, looking at himself in the mirror afterwards and feeling almost uncomfortable when he looked into his own eyes. It was just a feeling though, and he brushed it off as he went into his bedroom to get dressed. There was a weird bruise on his leg that he didn't remember getting, but he tried not to let it bother him too much. He was known for being clumsy.

While Jack set up his computer to film, he noticed his eye feeling watery and brought his hand up to rub at it, thinking it was just irritated. But he happened to glance down when he'd returned the hand to his computer mouse and saw a small line of red. Was that blood? It was, but Sean didn't have any idea where it could have come from. He wondered if he had a nose bleed and touched his nose to check, but this time his fingers came away clean. That was a little weird. It was only a tiny amount of blood though, nothing to be super worried about. Maybe it was just some kind of sauce actually. It could have gotten on him while he was cooking and he just didn't notice.

He was distracted from the thought and from filming when he suddenly got a call from Mark. That was a bit odd since they usually texted or skyped, but it wasn't like Mark never called him.

"Hey, dude," Sean answered, rather cavalier.

That mood was quickly dislodged by Mark's voice.

"Sean, are you okay?"

He frowned. Mark sounded really concerned.

"Ehm, yeah? Why're you asking?" 

There was a bit of a pause.

"I just saw some of your tweets from the night we were streaming, and I wasn't sure what was going on."

"What are you talking about?"

Now Sean was a bit concerned. And he was confused.

"You tweeted out some stuff that kind of struck me as odd, especially since it was right after we stopped the stream. Was it just some kind of joke? Because I was a little bit worried when I saw it just now."

"I didn't tweet anything that night, Mark. It was fuckin' past 3am here; I passed out right after we finished."

There was another pause, and Sean decided to pull up his twitter account on the computer just to double check.

"Are you sure? I guess it would explain things if you were too tired to even remember doing it. It's just a little weird."

He finally had his account open and scrolled down past a couple of posts until he had gone past where those tweets should be if there were any.

"I didn't post any fuckin' tweets Mark; there's nothing here."

"Jack, I'm looking at them right now."

"I'm on my account, and there's nothing here!"

No reply. But then his phone beeped with a text from Mark, and Jack opened it to see a screen shot that sent shivers down his spine.

It was a post from his twitter, just like Mark had said, from the night they'd been streaming. The text was a little bizarre in that it seemed like random words strung together:

"At car normal tell what open gear dead was it quiet middle to go." It was nonsense. But what really struck Jack the most were the spaces between the legible words, where it looked like the rest of the writing had been censored out with the unfamiliar symbols and characters. Jack had not made this post.

Mark sent two other pictures of the same kind of thing, two other posts from Jack's account that each said different things but couldn't be read in any way that made sense. Sean was feeling a heavy weight of dread.

"I must have gotten hacked," he finally said, even though that didn't really make sense. 

Why would someone hack him just to leave some cryptic tweets and not do anything else? He could tell that Mark was thinking the same thing.

"Your fans are all over the place with this, that's how I saw it in the first place. Some people are thinking you had a stroke or something."

"I'm telling you, I didn't write these."

"Okay. But maybe you should say it was intentional, just to stir up the fans, you know? And I can help you keep an eye out if someone really hacked you."

That was a good idea. Sean didn't know how to explain this to anyone otherwise. He didn't know what the hell was going on.

"Alright."

The phone call left him decidedly shaken. He spent about ten minutes after hanging up just staring at the pictures Mark had sent him, in some kind of daze. Then he decided that they would bother him too much if he didn't delete them. For some reason, he didn't though.

Jack didn't say anything to Signe about the tweets when she got home that night. He had already eaten dinner while he was looking through social media to find references to the weird posts. Mark hadn't been exaggerating about the viewer's reactions.

Signe was obviously tired and only wanted to go straight to bed, and Sean didn't want to worry her for no reason after she'd already had a long day. He didn't even know if there was anything to worry about. He still couldn't find the tweets on his own account in order to delete them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, please let me know if you're enjoying the story. :D I already have a bunch more of it written and it's so tempting to just post it all at once but I thought it would be better to have some consistency? Unless you guys want me to post more often. I couldn't even wait more than three days before the second chapter so maybe I'll post every three days until I run out of what's already written (but I'm still writing more already, don't worry.)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The community was now more convinced that Sean was just setting up the return of Anti to the channel, and so they were less concerned. Sean, however, was deeply disturbed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the comments!!! X3 (All four of you... Lol, but I'm super, super grateful.) <33333  
> I'm really excited about this story and I can't wait for more feedback.

It was in a post made by a fan that Sean first saw a connection between the tweets and Anti. The writing between the actual words was the same sort of thing that Jack used when he made clips with Anti. It was so strange. Maybe the hacker was just an obsessive Anti fan? The good thing about it was that the community was now more convinced that Sean was just setting up the return of Anti to the channel, and so they were less concerned. Sean, however, was deeply disturbed.

He used some backlogged footage for the day's video because he couldn't focus enough to film something new. He found himself totally exhausted by noon and fell asleep on the couch while trying to distract himself with tv. By the time he woke up, Signe was home and he'd accidentally skipped lunch.

"Sean, are you okay?"

Jack heard the echo of Mark's voice from their phone call and suddenly grew nervous.

"I'm fine, Wiish."

He knew that he looked like shit though. His eyes were red from him rubbing at them and his hair was sticking up from how he'd been sleeping. He kept feeling his eyes burn and thinking that he'd find more blood on his hands when he rubbed them. He was just tired though. That was all.

Signe looked rightfully concerned. She was also acting a bit cagey though, enough for Sean to notice even in his state.

"Is something going on?" he asked, and she looked even more upset.

"That's what I'm asking you, Sean. If you know about something, you don't have to have some kind of revenge trip."

"What?"

He thought for a moment that she was talking about the tweets, but that was ridiculous.

"I was going to tell you anyways, alright? I've been seeing someone."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I have nothing against Signe lmao.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sean wasn't sure what to do. He realized the instability that his mental state had been reduced to. He just didn't know what could possibly help him. Or who. Then he thought of Mark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Thank you Aall for reading the story so far. I hope that you like it! Please leave kudos if you do and I really love getting comments as well. :333  
> Things are getting spicy... Enjoy!

Sean had to be going crazy. That was the only explanation. Signe was staying somewhere else, probably with the guy she'd been cheating with, and Sean was left in what had been their house, alone. He was having difficulty processing everything.

Supposedly, Signe hadn't been physical with this guy before she talked to Sean about it. As if that made things any better. Sean wasn't sleeping at all anymore, and he was never hungry enough to eat anything. He felt sick to his stomach most of the time. His appearance was becoming shocking even to him, so that it was hard to even look at himself in a mirror. The last time he had, the darkness around his eyes just reminded him of Anti.

It must have been the lack of sleep but Jack was seeing things. He sometimes noticed a figure standing in his peripheral vision, flickering in and out of being. He would sometimes look at his phone and see nothing but the same mix-matched text that had been in those mystery tweets, and then the screen would go back to normal.

Sean wasn't sure what to do. He realized the instability that his mental state had been reduced to. He just didn't know what could possibly help him. Or who. Then he thought of Mark.

There were surely better people to call; people who were closer and more easily within reach. But Mark had been the one to call Jack because he was concerned about those tweets, and he'd always been one of Jack's closest friends. Always full of kind words and good advice. Jack just needed a friend.

For some reason, he decided to skype Mark, forgetting about his shitstorm of a complexion until it was too late.

"Oh my god. Sean?"

"Yeah."

"Holy cow, man, you look like shit. What the hell is going on?"

Sean had to swallow some kind of emotion that was creeping up in his throat.

"I'm not feelin' too well."

"No shit."

There was a badly misplaced laugh that escaped Sean at his friend's honesty. Even that sounded hoarse and underwhelming.

"Sean, did something happen?"

He swallowed again.

"Signe left me."

"Oh shit."

"And I'm- I'm not sure if I'm. My head's all messed up."

Mark studied Jack's face, and he could probably see the tears that were building up. Sean was looking at Mark, feeling some kind of relief just from the familiar face of his friend.

"Jack, I can't fly to you right now. I don't have anyone to take care of Chica. But I want to know if you'd be okay with coming to L.A."

"What?"

"I'm really worried about you, okay? I'll buy you a ticket to come down here so that I can look after you. You look like you're not even eating."

Sean didn't know how to answer. He wasn't sure how long it'd been since he'd eaten. Or showered.

"Jack. If you're not well enough to travel, I'll figure out a way to come to you."

"I can do it."

He wasn't sure if he could. But he knew that Mark wouldn't hesitate to get on a plane, and that would only cause him more trouble.

"Okay, good. Just try to sleep tonight and I'll get you a flight for the morning. Okay?"

"Okay."

The call ended, and Jack went to bed. The last thing he saw was the flickering figure in his peripherals before he finally fell asleep. The figure looked a lot like him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark didn't know why Sean wasn't being totally honest with him, but it had to be something he just wasn't ready to talk about. Sean was the most honest and open person that Mark knew. He could respect it this once if Jack wasn't ready to share.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay! I've had this totally ready in my phone all this time and forgot to post it. I really like how this story is going personally, but I'm kind of super dependent on feedback to motivate me, hint hint. xD Let me know what you think; thank you for being here; goodnight.

Mark was feeling conflicted about Jack's visit. Obviously, Mark was ecstatic to have Sean at his house, staying with him. Under the circumstances, Jack needed to have someone looking out for him, making sure that he was taking care of himself. 

It usually concerned Mark even under normal circumstances that Jack was always so alone. Plus, Mark just enjoyed having Jack around him. It wasn't a secret that they were good friends, but Mark wasn't generally keen on being open about his deeper feelings. He'd accepted a while ago that he had practically fallen for the rowdy, adorable youtuber from Ireland. But there hadn't ever been a time when he seriously considered coming clean about it. It was complicated.

The thing that was souring Jack's visit though was the reason it had been a necessity. Sean was... In bad shape. It was hard for Mark to see the usually overflowing personality reduced to the scarce trickle that it had been presenting itself as lately. He wanted to help Sean, but he wasn't sure that he could. He didn't know what he could do to erase the empty exhaustion that was dimming Sean's bright eyes.

It hurt even more to know that Signe was the cause of it. Sean was spending time with Mark, sure, but she was the one he was thinking about. That's what Mark thought, anyway. Sean wouldn't really talk about it. And it wasn't Mark's business, but he couldn't help the way his head focused on it. It was in the back of his mind, constantly. 

He was actually surprised by the way he'd been thinking. Yeah, he liked Sean, but he wasn't obsessed. Yet that was how he'd been, obsessive. Something in him was treating Sean like a belonging, and Mark was disturbed by it. That wasn't the way that Mark treated his friends, and it wasn't the way that he treated his partners.

Especially with Sean in this fragile state, he needed Mark to be a friend, not another source of stress. Mark tried to justify some of what he was feeling with concern. Because he _was_ concerned. He didn't think that anyone with an ounce of empathy could look at Sean and not be concerned right now.

It wasn't just the apparent depression either. Sean had seemed like he was mentally in a totally different place ever since he'd gotten to L.A. He was restless, like he was expecting to be hurt by someone at any given time. He was never quite focused on what Mark was doing or saying. It was like he'd seen a ghost.

"Sean, I need to ask you something."

Mark finally decided to broach the subject one night when he noticed Jack staring at the knife by his plate at dinner, looking... Mark wasn't sure what it was. Apprehensive.

"Yeah, Mark?"

It took Jack a minute to respond, to take his eyes away from the sharp edge of the cutlery. It was like he thought it might move on its own while he wasn't looking.

Mark thought that saying anything might just make matters worse, but he didn't want Sean to be afraid to talk about it.

"I've just been worried about you. The way you've been acting -I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, and I understand that you're under a lot of stress. But I was thinking, maybe..."

He saw Jack take a short breath and almost changed his mind about asking, but he had to know.

"Was Signe abusing you?"

Sean closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. The way that he relaxed, like he was relieved, told Mark that he'd gotten it wrong. But he didn't know what else it could be.

"Signe wouldn' do that."

"Okay."

Sean opened his eyes again, and Mark almost thought that he would explain things now. That he might open up to Mark and let Mark help him with whatever was happening, because there had to be something. Instead, Sean brushed him off again.

"'M sorry fer letting things get ta me, it's just the stress. I should just be enjoying hanging out with you, though."

He smiled, and Mark was the one who had to catch his breath. He didn't know why Sean wasn't being totally honest, but it had to be something he just wasn't ready to talk about. Sean was the most honest and open person that Mark knew. He could respect it this once if Jack wasn't ready to share.

Sean did seem more present after their conversation, though. Mark didn't want him to think that he had to pretend to be feeling better, but he couldn't say that he didn't enjoy hanging out like normal. They even played on the ps4, goofing off and ignoring the actual point of the game in leui of messing with npc's and finding ways to clip through random surfaces. It had been a long time since they had fun together like that.

Mark was feeling relaxed and comfortable when he went to bed at a very late hour that night. Rather than being kept up by worry for his close friend, he felt like he could finally get a full night of sleep, which sounded like some form of nirvana, and Sean seemed like he would actually get some rest as well. But it was only a few hours later that Mark woke up to Sean standing by the side of his bed.

"Jack..?"

Mark was confused and disoriented, but he could tell that something was wrong. Sean stood perfectly still, staring blankly at some point on the wall. 

"Jack isn't here."

His voice wasn't loud, but it was almost a snarl -high-pitched in places that sounded strange, like his voice was cracking over a hard surface. Then Sean looked straight at Mark, and Mark saw that his eyes were glowing. They were glowing green.

Mark started to shuffle backwards in the bed, but Jack moved, and he froze. Jack held a knife in his hand, one of the knives they'd used at dinner. Before Mark could say anything, Sean was bringing the knife to his own neck. Mark couldn't move and he couldn't breathe. He stared, horrified, while Sean slit his own neck, painting thick streams of blood with the slow slide of the knife on his skin.

But he still stood there, blood gushing from the wound, as if he were completely unharmed. And he turned the knife in his hand so that the blade was pointing toward the floor. And then he lifted his hand and drove the blade into Mark's heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's some deep lore: I really love the part of this chapter that I used for the summary because of how Mark is being manipulated LOL


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "̸͚̓̽͆̎͑̃̃̂̐̚̚̕͝W̶̢̭̘̞̣̭̅̑̇̇͋̔͌͘͜a̷͈̥͚͉̬͈̥͈̤̼͈̟͆̑͐͌͑͊͗͆͐͆͋̇͘̕ͅk̶̢̞̳͎͇̪̭̫̋͋̓̉͆e̸̡͙̻͓̯͙̜̬̹̰͙̓̅̅̇̓̐͑̃̿͌̀͠ ̸̪͓̤͙͇͍̝͝u̷̠͇̦͘p̷͔̬͙̂̌,̸̧͓̱̱̬̹̦͈̰͙̰͍̬̬̾̒̏̚̚̕͜ ̶̡͙̬̣̘̥͈͇̇̉̋̇̓̎̏̇͗̈̃͛̍̌͛ͅͅM̶͇̉ả̴̖̦̯͕͕̞͒̔͋̋̋̈́̍͘ṙ̸̨̛̠̟̟͍̙͕̈́̇̎͆͑̕k̷̺͖̤̙̗̀̆̀̅̽͑̃͛̑̇̄̾̃̚ͅi̴̘͉͘m̶̧̛͕͉͎̝̯̝̻͖̋̊͒̇̆͋͗̃̆͘͠ͅã̶̧͖̱͙͔̻͍̹̦̘̑̑͜r̴̢̙̯̫̝̭̗̙̫̝͈͙͔̂̽̌͗͋͗̊̊̔͗͗k̷͍̝̭͈̝̖̦̰̹̱̦̙̀͗̀͆͝.̴̯͖͓̖̥͊͒̃̅͊̑̅̆̅̓͌̿"̵̡̛̹̗̞̣͖̿́̄͗̾̒̀̕̕͝͠

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;)

_"Wake up, Markimark!!"_

He was dead. He was dead. He was dead.

_"Wake u-up!!"_

The feeling was returning to his body, slowly, so it felt like Mark came back into himself. Pins and needles spread through one of his legs, which was almost too stiff to move. He lifted his face off of a hard, cold surface --he was laying on the bathroom floor. Other than the pain raidating up his leg and the dull ache in the rest of his body, he was fine. 

Wait, he was fine? Maybe not, but he was alive. And Sean-

_"Wake up."_

Mark was kicked visciously in the stomach at the same time that he heard Sean's voice again. It was distorted somehow, unnaturally high and nasally and not Sean, and the kick was hard enough to force the breath right out of his lungs, making him gasp and curl in on himself. That was apparently not what was wanted from him because he was kicked again, this time more in the ribs, sending him onto his back.

"Fu-"

His vision was blurry, but he could make out enough to tell that he'd been right about being in his bathroom. His head stumbled over connections, finding gaps that just confused him further as he tried to remember what had happened. He didn't know how he'd gotten there, he just remembered Sean with a knife and the same not-Sean sound to his voice.

"Ooh, goodie! You're up."

Mark tried to move again, bracing himself on one of his hands to sit up, but it slipped against the tile, and his elbow slammed into the unforgiving surface. He looked at his palm and saw it covered in blood, which he was apparently laying in a pool of.

"Oh, shit. Oh, shit."

Sean had been at the edge of Mark's perception while he tried to understand what the fuck was going on, but then the Irishman was bent over him suddenly, leering in his face and filling up his vision. There was a wide, sharp smile on his face. For some reason, Mark's eyes were drawn to his teeth, like he couldn't physically bear to look into Sean's crazed, glowing eyes.

_"Stop ignoring me."_

Hands fisted tightly in Mark's shirt, Sean yanked him up to stand on his numb, unsteady feet. He would have fallen right back down if Jack let go, but Jack's grip didn't let up. 

Oh god. Sean had as much blood on him as Mark did. The smell was overwhelming; Mark had never experienced anything like it. And he was remembering what had happened with the knife. He saw a thick, clotted line on Sean's neck, an open wound that was still oozing. 

Mark's stomach lurched. He was too close to Sean to think it wasn't real; he could see into the carved open skin, and the coppery stench became even more cloying. His vision blurred, and he lost control of the pressing urge to vomit.

"FUCK," Sean exclaimed as Mark nearly puked down his front, and he held Mark away from him so it would go on the floor.

Their shoes were splattered, but the bathroom was already enough of a mess that it didn't make much of a differnce. Maybe it would to Mark when he had to clean up, but Sean wasn't in a state to care.

He giggled at himself once the threat of being puked on had passed.

"What's happening?"

Mark was finally awake enough to talk to him, but Sean had to roll his eyes at the obviousness of the question.

"You haven't figured it out, Markimark?" 

The other man looked at him with sick on the edge of his mouth and uncomprehending, pain-soaked eyes. Sean shivered appreciatively.

"Don't be coy," he hissed, "I gave you plenty of clues already."

He left Mark leaning against the counter and drew his pointer finger in a line across his throat, laughing. He was rather proud of himself for his own little joke.

"You haven't told me anything!" Mark insisted, panicked, "I don't know what-"

He shut up as soon as Sean had punched him in the face.

"I told you not to ignore me!"

"Sean, wh-"

Sean's fist connected again, hard enough to make the back of Mark's head slam into bathroom mirror behind him, cracking the glass. Sean was pulling his arm back to hit Mark again when Mark's hand shot up to catch the inside of his elbow and throw him back.

Sean hit the opposite wall and immediately moaned in excitement after the physical shock.

_"Finally."_

He saw Mark's eyes completely consumed by an inky black and his posture straighten into unaffected poise. Mark spoke, and the rumbling deepness of his voice made Anti shiver all over, again.

"You are going to regret that."

Anti smirked.

"I won't regret a moment. I want to play."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took me a bit longer than expected because I wasn’t sure exactly where I was going with it, so sorry for the wait. ;3 Thank you for reading so far; let me know what you think of our latest developments.

_“I want ta play.”_

Reality flickered around them, alternating between pristine, too-bright bathroom walls and the streaked mess of blood and vomit that Anti had painted it. The power radiating from Dark was enough to tear reality to pieces. It seemed impossible that all of it had been contained in the vessel, buried under a weak human personality, and to Anti it seemed like a damn shame.

Dark made it seem effortless. His auras pushed against their boundaries, bubbling at the vessel’s surface, yet Dark stood casually against the counter as if he wasn't exercising extreme restraint. He had changed out Mark's pajamas for a charcoal suit, and he glared at Anti with dark eyes that were set on consuming him.

_Jack was wandering through total darkness, unsure of where he was or what he was looking for. He remembered being with Mark, having dinner. There was a sense of fear and chilling dread. Something was wrong, and he was afraid, but not for himself. There was nothing he could do, though; he was completely lost. He was lost._

For Anti, taking a back seat to his vessel had been suffocating. Using a host served its own purpose, but he was relieved when he was finally able to take some control and... Stretch his legs. He'd been buried for so long, somewhere just beyond the physical world, which Jack was his anchor to. It was demeaning, being subject to a human's whims, watching his pathetic, meaningless little life, second-by-second. Day by day.

“Now it's our turn, Darkie.”

Anti giggled, thinking of the time he'd had so far with Jackaboy. He'd hesitate to call it torture; he was really only playing with the human's mind. That was nothing compared to what Anti could do to him. It was nothing compared to what he and Dark could do together.

He had sensed the demon in Jack's “friend” from the beginning. Playing with Jack had been fun enough for Anti, but driving him into Mark's loving arms, putting Anti in reach of the strongest demon he'd ever seen... That kind of reward made Jack's suffering only look like the cherry on top.

“Not so fast... Anti, was it?”

The demon across from him flickered, the only expression of emotion being the dark colors of his auras shifting around him with violent intent.

“I can tell that you're new to this, so I'll excuse your lack of manners just this once.”

“Excuse me?!”

Dark was on him before Anti could think, holding him tight against the wall so that he couldn't move and pressing a hand over Anti's mouth. Mark's chocolate eyes were consumed by black pits that bored into Anti's empty soul, and Anti's attempts to struggle were only met with a tighter grip that felt as forgiving as a concrete wall.

“Let me give you a very brief lesson. In etiquette.”

The demon was pressing closely against him as Anti seethed. He could feel Dark's chest hovering just a breath away, aggravatingly steady. Dark was as solid and composed as when he'd simply been standing by the counter. Anti could feel the dizzying static of the auras around him.

“This is my host, and you're in my house. Why don't you show a little respect?”

Anti stared defiantly into Dark's eyes and sank his teeth into the hand that was over his mouth, biting hard until he tasted blood. The action didn't illicit any immediate reaction, not even so much as a wince. Dark just stared at him before taking away his hand, only breaking eye contact with Anti to inspect the wound. 

_“Fuck you!”_ Anti hissed, trying again to struggle but finding himself still pinned completely to the wall, now with Dark's chest being the thing holding him still rather than the hand over his mouth.

Dark hummed.

“I see. You didn't have to go to such... Lengths. Just to get my attention.”

“Oh, shut up. You think you're better than me? Because you've had more time and haven't managed to do anything but hide behind your vessel?”

“I've adapted, little glitch. I know my place. Perhaps it's time you learned yours.”

Dark was practically growling at Anti's ear, and Anti knew full well that he could do more to escape if he so wished. He imagined glitching out of Dark's hold and cutting the asshole demon to pieces, and a part of him relished in the thought. But he also relished in the warmth seeping into his lifeless skin and the heady feeling of Dark's power surrounding him.

“And you're going to show me?”

He glitched out of Dark's hands after all, only to grab the collar of his stupid button up shirt and turn them both around, pressing Dark against the wall and sneering up at him.

“Huh, Darkie?”

The bastard had the gall to look amused. He let Anti reverse their positions but grabbed at Anti's hair in a quick movement and pulled, warning him. There was a shiver of heat that ran through Anti's core at the feeling, and he let Dark tug his head backwards as the demon leant in to kiss Anti's brutalized neck.

**“If I must.”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote the majority of this very, very late last night and then passed out on top of my phone and woke up this morning with key mashing in the google doc that kind of freaked me out a little. X3 Then I had a dissociative episode today that caused some time jumping/memory lapse episode thing, which hasn't happened to me in like a year. So it's been a weird day. Also, “little glitch” is the cutest pet name for Anti ever. It's the best thing I've ever written.  
> Good night!


End file.
